AMHERST, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) - We are learning disturbing new details about the man accused of killing his wife at Hotel UMass. While the campus community remembers the community member they lost, Western Mass News has uncovered court records filed back in 2024 that reveal a history of fear and alleged violence inside the MacDonald home from a previous marriage.

To the public and his colleagues here at UMass, Jeffrey Macdonald was a rising star —national award-winning chef. But we have obtained court documents from 2024 showing that behind closed doors, his children from a previous marriage allege he was a very different man.

On social media, MacDonald was the face of UMass Dining’s success. Posts from the university show him being celebrated by his catering team, winning gold at national culinary challenges for dishes like branzino stuffed with mousseline. The captions read ‘Go Jeff’ and ‘we know he will do us proud,’ but that’s not the whole story.

In a handwritten affidavit signed in September of 2024, MacDonald’s wife at the time, Ashley Dunn, told a probate judge a chillingly different story. She wrote that their children were reporting ‘verbal abuse, yelling, being called names, and swearing.’ The documents reveal physical allegations as well.

The ex-wife told the court her oldest child, reported his father ‘shoved him with full force into a table’ and had ‘hit him in the face on multiple occasions.’

The records state the children consistently begged not to return to their father’s house over the past year. Dunn wrote that MacDonald told the children not to report the abuse to their mother and that they were ‘fearful of retaliation.’

MacDonald is currently held without bail for the murder of his wife.

I did just speak with a UMass Dining’s employee about how they are doing in the wake of this tragedy. We’ll have that interview tonight at 6 p.m.

We reached out to UMass Amherst for comment but have not yet heard back.